Children of the Sea
by ElmarBear
Summary: "In the years to come remember the kindness I showed your son, an innocent child with whom I had no griefs, and remember your promise" Then the stranger swept from the room. The time has come for an old promise to be kept: Arthur and Merlin are about to set out on a journey that will change their lives forever. NO SLASH, A/G M/F
1. Prologue

Uther dropped to his knees, sweeping a four year old Arthur into his arms. His precious precious boy, whom he had so nearly lost, he buried his face into the blonde hair and felt little arms winding around his neck.

Blinking back tears he looked up at the saviour,

"How can I ever repay you?"

The young man, who looked to have just come of age, bowed his head,

"I ask for no physical payment my lord, just a promise"

Uther stiffened slightly, promises where never a good thing, they could get you into deep trouble and be very difficult to keep. Still, he had to thank this man somehow. Curious he replied,

"Go on"

The man smiled very slightly and raised his left arm, palm facing the sky he moved towards Uther. Immediately the guards rushed forwards,

"Let him be" Uther commanded, climbing to his feet. He turned and passed Arthur to the nanny,

"Take him and get him cleaned up, it's been a long week" He waited until his son was safely out of the room before approaching the man,

"What is the nature of this promise?" He asked again,

"Just that you will do me a good deed, should the time ever arise," The man said softly, cocking his head to one side like a dog, his eyes were unnervingly green and Uther swallowed, the hairs on his arms standing on end,

"And how will I know when this time is?"

The man smiled again and stretched out his arm, inked on to the wrist was a small figure and Uther had to lean in close to see it. It was a tiny set of waves, and over them flew a bird.

"You will know Uther Pendragon, " The man said softly, then he drew his hand back into his cloak. Uther stood up straight,

"Then I will do my utmost to keep this promise, you are an ally of this kingdom and forever welcome in these halls. Do you leave today?"

The stranger nodded, satisfied and readjusted his hood,

"I am afraid I must, my lord, I have business in the port of Allimire, on the southern coast, and have much lost time to make up for."

"Then I am greatful for your time, we can offer you a fast horse and provisions to make your journey quicker if you wish?" Secretly Uther was glad the man was not staying, there was something about him that made the King nervous,

"Thank you my lord, that would be most welcome," Then the man bowed once, quickly and turned to leave the room.

"Wait!" Uther called out at the last minute, "What is your name?"

The cloaked visitor gave an odd half turn, not far enough however that Uther could see his face,

"Jonah, my lord," He paused for a second, and when he spoke again his voice was louder, "In the years to come remember the kindness I showed your son, an innocent child with whom I had no griefs, and remember your promise" Then he swept from the room.

Uther stood for a second, gathering his thoughts, when he realised that the council were all still gathered,

"Council dismissed" He bellowed, and the men began to silently move, "And nobody is allowed to talk of this incident" he finished in a quieter, yet somehow more dangerous voice, "Or there will be consequences"

Every member of the council believed him.

* * *

Uther Pendragon was woken by the sound of his son and his manservant arguing in the courtyard below his window. Rolling over he tried to block both the sounds and the disturbing dream he had just had. It had been a long time since he thought of the stranger, Jonah, and the promise he had made to him, but he got a strange feeling he would be thinking about it again rather soon.


	2. A Rude Awakening

**Thank you for the reviews!**

**This is set before the Knights really become a team and definitely before Uther goes mad. So probably just before the end of the third season. By this point I think Merlin and Arthur were already close as friends and trusted each other quite a bit. As I said in the description, there is no slash, but I want to depict the pair of them as very close, almost brothers say. Anyways, Enjoy x**

* * *

Merlin is woken by a hand over his mouth. The soft leather of a glove is pressed hard against his face and he quickly becomes aware that he can't breathe. Blinking away sleep he begins to panic, thrashing around, and is about to make some kind of noise in an attempt to wake Gauis when a voice hisses close to his ear,

"Quiet boy, I'm not going to kill you," Merlin falls still in fear and the shadow steps back, hand releasing to let him breathe. Merlin gasps and sits up quickly, air flooding his lungs and making him light headed; the shadow has retreated to the corner of the room. Glancing up, he recognizes the king and falls to one knee on the floor in shock,

"My Lord," Still fearful, Merlin begins to rack his brains for some magic somebody may have seen him doing, coming up blank he risks a peek at the king under his shaggy fringe, who is watching him closely. Silence falls, and Merlin begins to fidget.

"Pack up and get ready for a journey boy," The king grunts finally, "Prince Arthur is collecting food so there is no need to worry about that"

Merlin starts slightly in surprise then jumps up to start his task. Still shocked he looks back awkwardly, realising he has to change, but the king has turned to watch the sun rising out the window. Quickly he shrugs on thicker trousers and a proper tunic, grabbing his brown jacket from the back of the door and a rucksack. He chucks in extra clothes and socks and his sleeping roll from under his bed. Whilst he is buckling it closed the king moves towards the door. Silently the king places his finger on his lips and leads him through Gauis's chambers. Merlin can see his old mentor sound asleep in his bed by the fire and closes his eyes in a silent wish that Gauis does not worry too much about where he has gone, cursing that he cannot leave a note.

Quickly they wind through the palace. Merlin notes that there are no guards and glances at the king, realising he must have planned this. The courtyard is silent and Uther leads the way to the stables, Merlin spots Arthurs blonde head over the stalls and hurries past the king to meet him. The prince pats him on the back by means of greeting and carries on packing his horse, giving Merlin's questioning look a tiny shake of the head.

Merlin moves over to the second horse of three and begins fastening his bag onto the saddle, quickly checking the stirrups are the right length, over the back of his horse he can see Uther doing the same to another. Soon he is ready to go and is about to follow Arthur out onto the courtyard when Uther stops his son with his hand,

"The children?" Merlin's head jerks up in surprise, what children? This outing was just getting stranger by the minute.

"They are safe with Leon, he is taking them out the back way, past the cells and down under the citadel, we will meet them in the woods near the east tower." Uther searches his son's eyes for a couple of seconds before giving a sharp nod. Swinging onto their horses the three men make their way down through the town.

It is a nice night, not too warm or too cold, the type of night Merlin likes. Yet still, when they ride out over the final bridge and enter the woods, Merlin shivers. He knows Arthur will explain everything later, but he cannot help worry that Uther has something awful planned for these children, after all, the king had been known to drown children suspected of sorcery, without giving them a fair trial first.

Once they have left the city, Arthur takes the lead, slowing his horse to a walk as they travel around Camelot. When the Eastern tower finally comes into sight Arthur slides off his horse and hands the reigns to his father, motioning at Merlin to do the same. Nervously he hands the reigns to Uther but the king seems far too preoccupied to care. Cautiously he follows Arthur into the trees, aware of every tiny sound he is making.

Finally Leon comes into view. Sitting on the ground the knight looks weary, in his arms are two well wrapped bundles. Arthur and Merlin approach quickly in the dark, the only light now is that of the moon that has managed to filter through the trees and Merlin can make out tiny sleeping faces peeking out of the cloth. As they come closer, Leon stands, grimacing and stretching his stiff limbs

Leon greets them with a murmur, and holds out the bundles,

"Careful, they haven't been asleep very long."

Arthur grimaces, trying to readjust the position of his arms, then, once carefully embracing the bundle, stands up straighter, looking Leon in the eye,

"Thank you Leon, we owe you a great debt, you are a loyal knight" He pauses, almost conflicted for a second, "And a good friend."

Leon gives them a small nod,

"May your journey be fast and free from danger, I hope to see you both again soon" Then he clasps Arthur's shoulder once before disappearing back towards the castle.

Merlin spares him a quick look before looking back down at his bundle. The child is larger and heavier than he expected, perhaps the size of a two year old, yet is warm and comforting to hold, breathing evenly in its sleep. He studies its little face in wonder. Arthur watches him carefully for a minute then barks a short laugh,

"C'mon Merlin, let's get a bit further away before we set up camp, then you can play mother."

Merlin just snorts and shoulder barges his friend, very gently of course.

* * *

When they emerge from the trees Uther whips out his sword, and with the grace Merlin supposes only kings can possess, manages not to look sheepish.

"Ahh Arthur, you have them both?" Even as he addresses his son, Uther's gaze is constantly on the lookout, peering into the thick foliage surrounding the path.

"Yes Father," Merlin can see the concern in Arthur as he watches his father, "Do we ride south still, as we discussed?"

"Yes, we can set up camp as the moon wanes." Uther's voice leaves no room for discussion and Merlin fights to disguise a yawn.

* * *

The ride south was awkward for Merlin, to say the least. At first he attempted to ride with the child in one arm, but found his arms tired awfully quickly, finally he wrapped in between his jacket and his chest and used his belt to keep it in place. Thankfully it never woke, which was more than could be said for the child Arthur was holding. Shortly after they set off it awoke and began to wail, and despite Arthurs best efforts he was unable to stop it doing so for a long time to come.

To make matters worse Uther was riding at the front and kept up and fast pace throughout. He was perpetually grumpy the entire journey and repeatedly told Arthur to shut the child up.

When he finally stopped beside a small stream and announced they were stopping for the night, Merlin was so stiff from trying to both ride and hold the child to his chest so it didn't fall that he could barely move.

Wincing he slid off his horse and one-handed tethered it to a tree. Arthur was encountering similar problems so Merlin lay the child on the ground and stumbled over to help him when it became apparent that Uther would not. He was glad when Arthur lay his child down also and helped him with the horses and bed rolls for he was not sure he would have managed by himself.

By the time they were laying down next to the fire Merlin was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. He thought it was ridiculous that the king hadn't helped at all, but instead just sat with his back to a tree watching the flames of the fire Merlin had lit.

When sleep overcame him at last, Merlin didn't fight it, his brain still whirring from the events of the night, who were these children? And why was the king so concerned with them?

* * *

**As you possibly noticed, the tense changed halfway through. I'm not very good with tenses, so sorry about that :/ I think I will settle into one or the other soon, probably the one I used for the second half - so just hang on! Thanks x**


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